


sophomore slump or comeback of the year

by stayfrosty_royalmilktea



Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bands, M/M, Music, Musicians, Oneshot, Pre Fall Out Boy, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 07:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19763311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stayfrosty_royalmilktea/pseuds/stayfrosty_royalmilktea
Summary: pete has never once doubted that his soulmate loved music. for the first few years of his life, there was silence, but as he and his soulmate grew up, the music grew more and more apparent, and it wasn’t that far away… when a 23 year old pete finds himself at a shitty dive bar with a live band, he can feel the music pounding in his ears, louder than it's ever been in his entire life.he wasn’t expecting to find his soulmate tonight, but life works in mysterious ways.Soulmate AU that whenever your soulmate is listening to music, you hear it. The closer you are to them, the louder is gets.





	sophomore slump or comeback of the year

**Author's Note:**

> hey friends! I'm aware this isn't the greatest but I felt like getting a Peterick oneshot out. Any critique would be appreciated! My tumblr is stayfrosty-royalmilktea so make sure to follow me so we can talk and shit uwu

It had never been as loud as this.

There were moments where he had gotten close, various gigs from his band or others, but it was never enough to tell.

But now, his soulmate was in this bar, listening to this band, and frankly, he did not know what to do.

He barely was 23, most of his family found their soulmates in their late 20s. The site _musicknows.com_ was where most people searched, people would post what songs they were listening to, how far away sounds were, their locations, just to desperately find who they belonged to. Pete would admit he’d been on the site a couple of times, but he knew he would likely never find them.

Here they were, in this room. From what Pete had known, all the soulmates feelings were always reciprocated. He just had to find someone who looked as equally shocked. So, as if his legs were jelly, he carefully shifted off his bar stool. All he had to was walk around and see where it got louder.

~

_“You should know when you’ve found your soulmate, Peter, when you touch them, even if it’s a brush of the shoulder, they only problem is, you need to be listening to music to tell, whether it’s a hum or a song coming from your headphones. When you touch them, it will stop.”_

_“How did you find daddy?” Asks a considerably smaller, doe eyed Pete._

_“I wouldn’t have known if there wasn’t any music playing at that moment during Homecoming.” Pete’s mother smiled warmly. “Your father was in the marching band, I brushed up against him and suddenly, the music stopped. We just looked at each other, stunned. Before we knew it, the music started up again, but it sounded nothing like it did previously. It was an interesting way to find out who you would spend the rest of your life with.”_

_“Will that happen to me, mum?” Pete asked inquisitively._

_“Someday, yes, you will find your soulmate, and I cannot wait to meet them.” She pulled Pete in for a hug._

_He thought, man, this soulmate business is tough._

Pete looked up, he was now near the entrance of the bar, and it was safe to say the music died down a little, the thump was still there, but as he scanned the bar’s patrons, he knew none of these was them.

So, Pete wandered back to his seat, ordering a beer, hoping for it to relax him a little. He pondered, what would happen if his soulmate left? What if he never found them again? He felt this fixed pressure that shouted that he needed to find them _now_ , or they will reach out of his grasp forever. 

But then, it was the voice, the voice, crystal clear, almost as if his mind had conjured it up. He’d heard it often, but no. This voice was coming from the band, it was like the instruments were miles and miles away. He’d never heard something so close. 

He looked up at the band, and it stopped. The band was alright, they all seemed pretty young. He scanned the microphones, his heart beating in his chest.  
One on the lead singer, one on the guitarist and one on the drummer, who he would barely see. He couldn’t take his eyes off them, he hadn’t considered that his soulmate was up there, performing to him. He also was hoping his soulmate wasn’t be a dude, either.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to be with guys, Pete knew how he identified, but having a female soulmate would’ve been so much easier. He had experimented through high school with girlfriends, both him and the girlfriends knew they weren’t soulmates, but most teenagers viewed these relationships as practices for the real thing. The lucky ones found their soulmates during high school. 

~

_Pete knew what he was doing, and he could tell she was enjoying it. His hands roamed over her body, his lips urgently pressed against hers, the lying down position maximized the make out potential and minimized the distance between their bodies. Her hair smells of flowers and her skin is soft to the touch, he can feel her squirm beneath him, but Pete let his mind wander, and when his mind wandered, it arrived in places he’d rather not be in. And before Pete knows it, his body goes into involuntary cooling mode. He sighs and breaks the kiss; she tilts her head to the side._

_“I’m sorry.” He frowns, and slowly lifts himself off Olivia._

_“It’s okay, Pete.” She smiles, “Do you want me to be honest?” She asks._

_“Go right ahead.”_

_“I was thinking of my soulmate, not that you’re a terrible guy, cause seriously, you’re an amazing kisser and you’re a lovely gu-“_

_“Olivia, its okay, 100% get it.” He half smiles._

_“It’s just weird, knowing that we actually have a soulmate, and how far people have gone to find theirs. I hope he’s out there, I suppose I’ll have to find him eventually.” She moves herself into a seated position, hugging her knees to her chest._

_“Yeah, it is weird. I just wonder who they are, and what I’ll do when I find them.” He states, “I just don’t really know if I’m soulmate material, what if it’s not mutual?” Pete bites his lip.  
“Seriously, Pete? You have nothing to worry about, I’ve never heard of soulmates whose love was unrequited. You’re a great person, and I’m glad I get to experience this with you. I’ll know how my soulmate should treat me.” She smiles and puts her head on Pete’s shoulder._

_“I just… don’t know who they’ll be, and that uncertainty scares me”. Pete responds._

_“Oh? You mean gender? Or…?” Olivia questions._

_“Uh, yeah. I suppose.” Pete shakily says, “What if it’s a dude? My parents aren’t bad people by any means, but they do expect me to have a female soulmate and have beautiful, biological babies. Its not something I’d ever rule out, but what if it happens to be a he?”_

_“Oh, Pete.” She laughs, “Any guy or girl would be lucky to have you, your parents of all people should know that you don’t get to choose your soulmate. All you can really do is find them and live life to your fullest, and not let bigoted people ruin that for you.”_

_“You’ll be okay, Pete”, she finishes_

_“I hope so, thank you, Olivia.” He breathes deeply and lets himself let go, maybe things will turn out the way they should._

Pete opened his eyes and heard… nothing. The band had stopped, but someone was humming, his soulmate. They had to be somewhere, he stood up, and as he slowly heard the humming volume decrease. He frantically looked around.

He couldn’t lose them.

\---------------------

“Suppose that went pretty well, huh?” Hugh said, packing his bass away in his case. The adrenaline hadn’t fully vanished, and Patrick has humming and fiddling with his drumsticks.

“First time you sung in front of an audience too, Patrick.” Said their lead singer Joel, “Not going to be the last time either.” 

Patrick gave Joel a quizzical look. “What do you mean by that?”

“Listen, we wanted to tell you earlier, but we thought it’d be best to finish this gig first.” Joel looked at Chris hesitantly, and coughed, as if to signal for him to speak.

“You know how we’re in another band together right? Well we submitted a demo and its actually been accepted from this pretty fucking huge record label, we’ve been debating what to do and we’re going to be leaving shitty old Wilmette and going to New fucking York.” Chris said.

“So, you’re just ditching us?” Patrick was kind of pissed, just when they finally start getting somewhere, they leave. 

“Hugh? What do you think?” Patrick turned to the bassist and he shrugged.

“They told me about it a while ago, I’m not too happy, but I can always find some other guys to pla-“

“So, you’re telling me I’m the only one who didn’t know about this?! You just left me in the dark the entire time?!” Patrick was close to shouting.

“Because we knew you’d fucking do this, man!” Joel replied, also frustrated, “Listen, it’s some shitty high school band, we weren’t going to get anywhere with mediocre songs and shitty _Joy Division_ covers!” 

“I never saw you writing any of our songs, prick!” Patrick increased his volume, who the hell did he think he was?!

“Screw you, Stump.” Joel snarled, “Cmon, we’re leaving, was kinda fun while it lasted.” Joel and his little skinny jean posse walked off, instruments in hand. Leaving Patrick completely and utterly alone, in the dive bar car park, without a lift home. 

“God dammit!” Patrick whispered, sitting on the steps. It wasn’t long before he quickly stood up, hearing the door open behind him.  
As he got up, he found a guy, not too much taller than him. He could only see parts of him, shining underneath the only orange, dimming light outside the bar. His brown eyes squinted, probably to focus on Patrick’s shadowed form.

“You alright? Heard some of the stuff, sucks how your band mates would do that.” The guy sat down on the stairs and pat the space next to him. So, Patrick sat down.

He felt this inexplicable need to hear what his guy had to say, he wasn’t exactly up to socializing after being kicked out of his band, but this guy seemed to be an exception.

“Uh, yeah, suppose I gotta find a new band now.” Patrick shrugged, they were somewhat far away from each other, Patrick didn’t want to be touching a stranger, as much as he found him to be uh… attractive.

“Well, I’ve got a mate who is looking to form something. We don’t have a drummer or a singer, be nice to try you out, if you’re interested that is.” The guy almost seemed… nervous? He had no idea what the guy would be so nervous about, he shuffled.

“Uh, that might be good. I’m Patrick” Patrick says. He doesn’t offer a handshake, that’s kinda weird.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m Pete.” Pete replies. “This is going to sound extremely weird, but would you mind singing for me? I heard you a bit.” ( _a lot, Pete’s thinking, if this is the right person_ ).

“Oh, uh… I suppose, I’m not that great, maybe I shouldn’t? I mean, I just met you-“ Patrick looks frantic, I suppose being asked to sing on the spot is a scary thing, but it’s necessary.

“Patrick. It’s okay, I will not judge.” Pete so badly wants to put his hand on his arm, but he needs to wait. Not just yet.

And so, Patrick takes a breath and starts to sing, Pete doesn’t know the song, perhaps its an original. But its clear as day, Patrick’s vibrato is practically echoing through his head, his tone a little rough, but it’s perfectly imperfect.

_Its him._

And before Patrick has the chance to finish his song, Pete moves towards him and puts his hand on his leg, and it stops. 

It’s as if the world has just… frozen, in a world of incessant sounds of cars and automobiles and unintelligible lyrics coming from the bar. It’s as if life has just, ceased. Patrick doesn’t hear that echo in his head anymore, he doesn’t know why it stopped. Pete’s eyes go wide and he moves his hand off Patrick’s legs, and the world recalibrates, though Patrick’s singing has stopped. The melody and thought of it echoes through Pete. 

“The echoing… It stopped.” Patrick simply states, he can’t take his eyes off Pete.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what happens when you find your soulmate.” The corner of Pete’s mouth twitches, and Patrick’s mouth is hung open.

“I just thought… the echoing was me?” Patrick rubs his temple, “It was so loud tonight, I didn’t understand why, it was as if I was hearing my songs go through someone else’s head then back in mine.”  
“So… you never knew about soulmates?” Pete asks, intrigued.

“I knew what they were, but I never thought it would work if I was the one making the music…” Patrick’s words trailed off.

“Patrick… throughout my whole life, all I’ve heard was you, and your voice, and what you listen to. It was never too loud, but it was there. I always thought your voice was just some musician, I wanted to know who they were… I never knew it was you.”

“And you… you’re in a band?” Patrick asks, overwhelmed. 

“Uh, yeah, I do rough vocals.” Pete says.

“Well Pete, I’ll tell you one thing, that music did not help me concentrate during math exams.” Patrick laughs.

And so, Patrick smiles and leans into Pete. Humming along a song.

Pete doesn’t need to hear the song in his head, for the first time, his soulmate is right next to him. 

Pete breathes deeply and lets himself let go, things will turn out better than he could’ve imagined.


End file.
